An Excerpt from Our Marketing Guide

At Connect the Doc, we are very fortunate to have our in-house marketing expert, Nasheel Kassam. A graduate from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration/Marketing and a Minor in Communication, Nasheel went on to manage several healthcare clinics and have helped each clinic’s bottom line grow by an average of 20%. Here is an excerpt from Nasheel’s Healthcare Marketing Guide for growing your business:

Creating a Budget

In order to effectively plan and measure the success of your clinics marketing, you have to commit to a budget. This will allow you to look at the overall picture and compare different efforts. When you know the ROI of different marketing efforts you can start re-allocating more money towards the methods that are working best for your business. If you have a small budget, I would focus on Internal Marketing first, and then work towards targeting customers who are actively searching for the solution you provide.

The 80/20 Rule

ALWAYS remember to take care extra special care of your regulars. While ideally every patient should be treated like a VIP, very likely 80% of your revenue will come from 20% of your patients (from either them or the patients they refer). Be sure to regularly thank these 20% for referrals, testimonials, and their steady business. Accommodate them after hours if need be and incentivize them to bring in their friends. These customers are the ones who will grow your business!

Competitor / Industry Analysis

I always recommend that businesses research their competitors from time to time. They might have cool promotions or interesting ideas, which your business might benefit from. Additionally, the more you know about your competitors, the better you will be able to position your business in a favourable manner.

As far as your industry is concerned, I always recommend that practitioners stay up to date with methods and technology. At the end of the day, if you are able to provide a patient with a higher quality or more effective treatment, they are going to be more inclined to refer you to their friends.

Becoming a Brand

Many of the clinics I work with want to become a brand. There are two key components to branding. First, you must have a clearly thought through branding guideline which dictates how your brand should be presented, both visually and with language / tone **can we add in something about mission statement and vision statement?”. Second, it takes money. No matter how you cut it, “building a brand” will take hundreds of thousands of dollars. Luckily, throughout the guide I will continue to give you information so that you don’t make common mistakes other businesses make. When you get to the end of this guide you will be one step closer to making the best decisions for your business!